My mother 61 y.o Has asked me to help her invest. She has a property (rental) worth appx. $130,000 she wants to cash in. PLEASE help! What would be the wisest way for her to invest to live. She is still working, yet wants to retire soon.

Sounds like your mom is at the same point that my parents are. It is impossible to address the question "how should she invest" without knowing the BIG picture. In my parents' case, this seems to require knowing the following information, which they are reluctant to share with me so I've been trying to get them connected with a good financial planner:

- How much regular (i.e. non-tax-deferred) investments they have, and what their capital gains liability looks like.

- How much money they have in IRAs. How consolidated the money is (is it spread out across multiple custodians), and how easy it is to get at. How aggressively is the money invested.

- Ditto for 401k's.

- How they stand with respect to Social Security and pensions. What pension distribution options are available.

- How do they plan to live? Where do they plan to live? How do they view their income needs?

- Do they have appropriate long-term care insurance in place? Medical insurance?

As you can see, I think you need to ask a lot of questions before you can think about "how should the money be invested". If you have not asked some of these questions, please do. If you can't get the answers, welcome to the club.

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